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ONE WRONG KEYSTROKE AT THE VA, AND YOU'RE DEAD
--
Veteran Bill Henness, 74-years-old, proclaimed,
"I am not dead. I'm in excellent health."
Story here...
http://www.pjstar.com/
stories/081007/PHI_BE1CURJ2.033.php
Story below:
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One wrong keypunch, and you're dead
Phil Luciano
NEWS COLUMNIST
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently sent a solemn but
direct letter to the wife of Bill Henness.
"We are sorry to learn of the death of William F. Henness and wish to
express our deepest sympathy," the letter states.
It also warned that his death meant the end of his monthly disability
payment. Moreover, the VA ordered his wife to return any checks sent
after his death.
But there is one problem with this efficient process.
"I am not dead," Bill Henness says.
Mind you, I didn't communicate via a Ouija board seance. Rather, he
spoke by phone from his home in Colchester, near Macomb. And he sounded
pretty spunky.
"I'm in excellent health," says Henness, 74.
Just so I could be sure, I talked to his wife, Virgie, 73. She gave me
an eyewitness account that her husband is quite alive. But her diagnosis
of the VA isn't as positive.
"This is all so silly," she says.
And, as it turns out after I made a few calls, all the confusion
could've been easily avoided.
Henness, a lifelong resident of McDonough County, served in the Army
from 1952 to 1953, in the infantry during the Korean War. During battle,
he lost his sight in his left eye. That got him a trip home, a Purple
Heart and a monthly disability payment.
Still, he was otherwise able-bodied, and over time he worked in several
capacities: factory worker, maintenance man, part-time preacher. And for
54 years, each month the VA would send him a disability check. The
current rate for losing an eye in combat is $389 a month.
Recently, though, the VA sent a notice saying his checks would end,
because Henness had died (though no death date or cause was stated). The
letter said that if his wife wants to apply for continuation of the
benefits, she would have to send in an application. Meanwhile, the VA
sent along a handy coupon so she could send back any checks since the
month of Henness' death.
There is no federal VA outpost near Henness, so he called the state's VA
office in Macomb. Service officer Kermit Short tried to wade through the
mess.
The letter to the Henness home was sent by the VA's Debt Management
Center in Minnesota. That office told Short that it was acting on
information provided by the regional office in Chicago.
Short contacted the Chicago office, but a representative acted rudely -
if you can imagine such a thing from any of the kind, patient folk in
the Windy City.
"They didn't want to talk to me and didn't want to give me information"
Short says. "They were really unprofessional."
The VA can learn of veterans' deaths from multiple sources, such as the
Social Security Administration, funeral homes - even vets' survivors.
After all, in most cases post-death checks must be paid back, so it
doesn't behoove survivors to cash those checks.
According to Short, a VA representative curtly told him, "We make
mistakes, and you shouldn't question us."
Still, the rep did tell him to send a letter explaining the snafu. He
did, but this week Short told Henness the matter might languish for two
months or more.
So I called Ryan Steinbach, spokesman for the Chicago VA office. He got
back to me a couple of hours later.
It turns out - no surprise here to Bill Henness - that the VA was dead
wrong. Another soldier had died, but a clerk at the Chicago office had
punched in the wrong Social Security number - Henness' - inadvertently
but officially declaring him deceased.
The clerk caught the error right away. However, the accidentally pushed
button relayed that information via computer to the Minnesota office,
which in turn automatically sent the letter to the Henness residence.
Until I revealed Henness' case, neither spokesman Steinbach nor anyone
else in the Chicago office had been aware that an automatic series of
events can occur when the wrong button gets pushed. I guess this sort of
thing happens pretty much never.
"We apologize for any burden this has put on Mr. Henness or his family,"
Steinbach says.
A rep from the Chicago office relayed the same information and apology
to Henness. His checks won't go interrupted.
That worked out faster than I'd expected. Bill Henness must lead a
charmed life - for a dead guy.
PHIL LUCIANO is a columnist with the Journal Star. He can be reached at
pluciano@pjstar.com , 686-3155
or (800) 225-5757, Ext. 3155.
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Larry Scott --
